Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt

Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt
Duchess of Zweibrücken
Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt, Duchess of Zweibrücken
Born	14 April 1765 Darmstadt
Died	30 March 1796 (aged 30) Rohrbach
Spouse	Maximilian, Duke of Zweibrücken
Issue	Ludwig I of Bavaria Princess Augusta, Duchess of Leuchtenberg Princess Amalie of Bavaria Caroline, Empress of Austria Prince Karl Theodor of Bavaria
Full name German: Marie Auguste Wilhelmine
House	House of Hesse-Darmstadt House of Wittelsbach
Father	Prince Georg Wilhelm of Hesse-Darmstadt
Mother	Maria Luise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg
Religion	Lutheranism

Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt (German: Marie Auguste Wilhelmine von Hessen-Darmstadt) (14 April 1765 – 30 March 1796) was the mother of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

Augusta Wilhelmine was born at Darmstadt, the fourth daughter and ninth child of Prince Georg Wilhelm of Hesse-Darmstadt (second son of Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt) and Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg.

Biography

Marriage and children

On 30 September 1785, in Darmstadt, Augusta Wilhelmine married Maximilian, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (later King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria). They had five children:

• Prince Ludwig (1786–1868), married Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.
• Princess Augusta Amalia Ludovika, (21 June 1788 – 13 May 1851), married Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg.
• Princess Amalie Marie Auguste (9 October 1790 – 24 January 1794), died in infancy.
• Princess Caroline Augusta (8 February 1792 – 9 February 1873), married William I of Württemberg, and then Francis II of Austria.
• Prince Karl Theodor Maximilian (7 July 1795 – 16 August 1875).

Maximilian was an officer in the French army stationed at Strasbourg, but the couple also often visited Paris.^[1] There Augusta Wilhelmine met Queen Marie Antoinette with whom she maintained an ongoing correspondence.

In 1789 Maximilian's regiment rose in revolt and he and Augusta Wilhelmine fled to her parents' home in Darmstadt.^[2] For the next five years they lived mostly in the neighbouring town of Mannheim. In December 1794 the French army attacked Mannheim. Augusta Wilhelmine fled the city when her home was shelled by French artillery.^[3]

Duchess of Zweibrücken

In April 1795 Maximilian succeeded his brother as reigning Duke of Zweibrücken; however, his duchy was entirely occupied by the French. In March 1796 Augusta Wilhelmine, who had always had delicate lungs, finally succumbed and died at Rohrbach.^[4] She was buried in the Schlosskirche in Darmstadt.^[5]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt

16. Louis VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt               8. Ernest Louis, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt                       17. Princess Elisabeth Dorothea of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg               4. Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt                             18. Albert II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach               9. Margravine Dorothea Charlotte of Brandenburg-Ansbach                       19. Countess Sophie Margarete of Oettingen-Oettingen               2. Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt                                   20. Johann Reinhard II, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (=26)               10. Johann Reinhard III, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg and Münzenberg                       21. Countess Palatine Anna Magdalena of Birkenfeld-Bischweiler (27)               5. Countess Charlotte of Hanau-Lichtenberg and Münzenberg                             22. Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach               11. Margravine Dorothea Friederike of Brandenburg-Ansbach                       23. Princess Johanna of Baden-Durlach               1. Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt                                         24. Georg Wilhelm, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg               12. Johann, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg                       25. Countess Anna Elisabeth of Daun-Falkenstein               6. Christian, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg                             26. Johann Reinhard II, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (=20)               13. Countess Johanna of Hanau-Lichtenberg                       27. Countess Palatine Anna Magdalena of Birkenfeld-Bischweiler (=21)               3. Countess Maria Luise of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg                                   28. Johann August, Count of Solms-Rödelheim and Assenheim               14. Georg Ludwig, Count of Solms-Rödelheim and Assenheim                       29. Countess Eleonore Cratz von Scharffenstein               7. Countess Katharina Polyxena of Solms-Rödelheim                             30. Count Frederik Ahlefeldt               15. Countess Charlotte Sybille Ahlefeldt                       31. Countess Maria Elisabeth of Leiningen-Hartenburg

Footnotes

1. Egon Caesar Corti, Ludwig I of Bavaria (London: Thornton Butterworth, 1938), 15.
2. Corti, 19.
3. Corti, 21.
4. Corti, 24.
5. Hans Rall, Wittelsbacher Lebensbilder von Kaiser Ludwig bis zur Gegenwart (Munich: Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds), 142.

Bibliography

• Winkler, Wilhelm. "Die Mutter König Ludwig I. von Bayern nach ungedruckten Briefen", Die Wächter (1924).